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NOME - Norman Vaughan, the intrepid, 94-year-old Alaskan adventurer, led a group of hardy snowmachiners and mushers onto Front Street Wednesday afternoon to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the famed serum run that helped inspire the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. A group of 11 dog teams and 13 snowmachiners duplicated the 770-mile journey from Nenana to Nome that rushed life-saving diphtheria medicine to the illness-plagued community in 1925. The modern party of travelers moved at a more leisurely pace, departing Nenana Feb. 27 and stopping in villages along the way to preach the value of inoculation for childhood diseases. On a sunny afternoon under the Iditarod's finish arch, Vaughan presented Nome Mayor Leo Rassmussen with a replica packet of serum medicine. It contained small vials holding water. "I had a good time," said the white-haired and white-bearded Vaughan who wore a beaver hat and supported himself on a cane. Vaughan, who has done everything from exploring Antarctica in the late 1920s and racing dogs in the Winter Olympics of 1932, racing several Iditarods and climbing a 10,000-foot Antarctic peak named for him, had a mishap a few blocks from the end, falling off a snowmachine. "I guess I'm all right," said Vaughan. "I got thrown and wedged under the sled." Bob Ernisse, another Iditarod veteran who made this trip, said Vaughan impressed him anew. "What a tough old bird," said Ernisse. "A fabulous trip. Every village welcomed him with open arms." Rasmussen also talked about how inspirational Vaughan is. "You have given people who want to retire at 55 reason not to retire at 95," said Rasmussen. Slow pace ends race Neen Brown, who runs a 4,500-acre sheep ranch in Australia, was withdrawn from the 2000 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race by race marshal Mark Nordman in Takotna. Brown was not guilty of any infraction. Nordman said she was simply going too slow. "I was concerned she wasn't racing," said Nordman. - Lew Freedman
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